The head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak called on reporters not to politicize the issue of criminal prosecution of MP Nadiia Savchenko and allow investigators perform their work.
“I do not like the excessive politicization of this case … I did not solve this crime, but our Ukrainian counterintelligence did. And I want to say that ordinary citizens would have been hit by 120 mm mortar shells brought from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and provided personally by Zakharchenko and Timofeyev [leaders of the terrorist organization DPR Oleksandr Zakharchenko and Oleksandr Timofeyev] … These are not just words that we pronounce, it was about the real preparation of the terrorist act,” Hrytsak told journalists at a briefing in Odesa on Tuesday.
He expressed his conviction that “large-scale destabilization was planned, which could become the beginning of the end for Ukraine.”
“Let’s not politicize. Let the investigators investigate this criminal proceeding with a cool head. Now any Tom, Dick or Harry feed on it. Do not do this!” And I turn to reporters: … do not raise this issue. Let them investigate this case, let international experts, lawyers analyze it afterwards. We did not play and did not stage anything. The terrorist attacks were being prepared and I am responsible for that,” the head of the SBU said.
As reported, on March 22, the Verkhovna Rada supported the motions and green-lighted Savchenko’s prosecution, detention and arrest. Then representatives of law enforcement bodies in the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine informed Savchenko about suspicion, after which the MP, accompanied by law enforcers, went to the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region.
The motions were filed in the framework of criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or the seizure of state power); Part 1 of Article 14 (preparation for crime), Part 2 of Article 28 (commission of a crime by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior agreement, an organized group or a criminal organization), Part 1 of Article 109; Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 28, Article 112 (encroachment on the life of a state or public figure), Part 1 of Article 14, Part 3 of Article 258 (terrorist act); Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization); Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On March 23, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv ruled to select a preventive measure for Ukrainian MP Nadiia Savchenko in the form of detention for 59 days, until May 20, 2018.
On March 29 the Kyiv Appeals Court turned down an appeal by the defense team for Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy Nadiia Savchenko against the Shevchenkivsky District Court ruling on taking her into pretrial custody. In addition, it canceled the decision of the first instance court regarding the recognition of the illegal detention of Savchenko on March 22, 2018.
